


It's Okay

by goldenshell



Category: MandoPony - Fandom, NateWantsToBattle - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 08:46:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16991784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenshell/pseuds/goldenshell
Summary: When Mark and Nate are away on trips, Andy has to try and deal with the spirit that makes him question everything on his own.





	It's Okay

Nate and Mark had been gone for the past few weeks, leaving Andy home all alone. Mark was on tour and Nate was going to conventions. Both offered to let Andy come with, but he didn’t want to feel like he was invading their personal space. So instead he just stayed home.

He shouldn’t have.

Purple used this to his advantage. He taunted Andy little by little.

A post of Mark with Ethan and Tyler and the other people on the tour? That’s great! _He’s having so much fun without you. He might choose to do it a lot more. Get away from you._ No, that’s great! He’s doing things he always wanted to do. _Things where if you weren’t around, he would be able to do more of._ Pictures of Nate with fans? That’s great! It’s always cool getting to meet people you look up to so they must be so excited. _They don’t even care about you._ That’s okay, I’m proud of Nate. _He’d be better off without you. If you weren’t around, people would like him more._ After a week Andy stopped checking. He was sure they were doing fine. _Better without you._ He just couldn’t bring himself to check because of Purple. _You don’t need to_.

Whenever Nate or Mark called, Andy was kind of happy, wasn’t too fond of Purple constantly making him question his boyfriends words, but he was getting to talk to them while they were away. He did try to tell them about what Purple was doing, but every time he did, Purple stopped him. Made his throat feel tight, caused a squeezing pain in his chest, or gave him a massive headache until Andy said goodbye and hung up. What was good became bad if he even tried to stop it. So he gave up. Had happy short conversations with Mark and Nate, but didn’t try telling them what was happening.

The two knew about Purple. Sometimes they would ask. Andy would try to tell them the truth. _Don’t._ Tell them he wasn’t doing too great. _You’re going to make them worry about you when they’re busy. That’s selfish. I thought you weren’t selfish Andrew._ When he said Purple was leaving him alone, he was fine. So he started telling them Purple was being quiet and leaving him alone. They would question it again and again, they knew better, but Andy couldn’t tell them. He just kept saying it was fine. He was okay.

Andy tried to work on writing songs or stories for Thatch and Dial, and it worked at first. He was so focused with it that he forgot Purple was causing problems. _Your writing sucks, Andrew. It’s bland._ But Purple got tired of being ignored, so he pushed more and more. _No one’s going to like it._ And eventually Andy couldn’t focus a hundred percent. _This is your second try. People didn’t like it the first time._ He’d focus, then there’d be a thought from Purple. _You should give up. You’re not a writer._ A loud one. _Mark and Nate haven’t called._ Andy tried to dismiss them. _They must have forgotten about you._ He had gotten pretty good at dismissing them normally. _Maybe they stopped caring about you._ But Nate or Mark weren’t there to reassure him when he’d pose the thought as a simple insignificant question. _Realized you’re a pain in the ass._ And by the time he was talking to either of them again, it would already be seeded in his mind. _They’re faking it._

He tried to go out with friends as a distraction, but it didn’t always work. Purple would take his friends and use them against him any chance he could. _They only like you because you can play music._ He would twist their words, point out maliciousness in their actions that wasn’t actually there. _They saw you there. They just didn’t care._

He was just making Andy’s life living hell. And Andy’s friends didn’t know. They didn’t know about Purple. Nate and Mark weren’t there. _Maybe they won’t come back._ They thought it might happen, they figured something was wrong. _They didn’t do anything to stop me. Do you think they really care._ But neither could do much aside from try to reassure Andy, which helped. A bit. But Purple made him question it. He tried not to. **‘No. They care. They wouldn’t keep asking if they didn’t.’** But Purple made him. _Do they really?_ So he tried to forget it, tried to go numb. **‘You’re a liar.’** Harsh words? _You’re a fake._ Didn’t matter. “I can’t wait to get back home. I’m going to cuddle you to death.” Kind words? Didn’t matter. **‘Can’t wait…’** They were words. “I love you.” They were sounds. **‘I love you too.’** _Just sounds._

By the time Nate was finishing with his trip and Mark was in the last stretch of the tour, Andy finally gave up. He stopped being productive. Stopped caring. Stopped doing things he loved. He would call Nate and Mark once a day, but he faked it. _You’re fine._ **‘I’m doing good.’** He pretended he was fine for them. They were busy. They couldn’t be worried about him. _Good._

He would sleep in until noon.  ~~Andy didn’t do that. Andy was always the one to be up first, up at like 7am.~~ Ate when he realized he needed to or Purple hounded him. _Don’t be an idiot. You need to eat._ **‘I’m not hungry.’** _Go eat, now._ He’d lay back down on the couch, and wait, until he got tired and slept.

It was only a couple more days before Mark came back. Finding Andy asleep on the couch was odd, but he let him sleep. When Andy got up, he was happy to see Mark was back. And then Purple was back. _How long til he leaves you again._ Andy thought he was numb to it, but he wasn’t. Not with Mark here. Not with Nate going to be home later that night.

He hesitated, standing there and starting to cry in front of Mark. He would have grabbed him and hugged him, but Purple had been successful. He made Andy second guess everything he did, everything he wanted to do. It wasn’t until Mark pulled him into a hug that he held onto him and hid his face in Mark’s shoulder.

“Was Purple getting to you the whole time?” Mark asked softly as he rubbed small circles into Andy’s back. The other almost didn’t respond, but then nodded slowly. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he kept his voice gentle. Andy shook his head, pulling away slightly. Mark sighed as he let him, moving to tilt his head up. “You know you can tell me.”

Andy nodded as he looked down, he was shaking slightly, collapsing back into Mark’s hold. Andy just made a soft noise as he held Mark tighter. After a while, Mark moved them to the couch, and just let Andy cling to him, whispering soft nothings every time the other tightened his grip. He might not be able to tell when Purple is being a pest over the phone, but he’s learned to tell when he’s with Andy.

Nate got home a couple hours later, and when he saw the two, he recognized the look on Mark’s face and just joined them quietly. He figured Mark already tried to push Andy to talk and that he could ask about it later.

When Andy realized Nate was there, he started to cry again, reaching out to him. Nate just leaned over and pressed a kiss to Andy’s forehead before sitting back. He gently ran his fingers through Andy’s hair as the other settled back down, laying his head on Mark’s chest and shifting his hand so he could grab Nate’s arm. Eventually they all fell asleep on the couch, a tangled mess, with Andy trying to hold onto both of them like they were his only life lines. And to some extent, they kind of are, their presences being a comfort to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: While I do ship Andy, Nate and Mark, I know they aren't gay. I ship their personalities, not them as people. I could easily change the character names in this to different names and the story would be the same. Or I could just exclude the tags that gave away who Nate, Andy, and Mark were since the names are so generic. But I'm not doing that is because it's based on the personas they put on when online as well as so others who might ship them can find this. (It's so rare to find Andy/Nate, and there is no Andy/Mark or Andy/Nate/Mark stuff.)


End file.
